Today in Siena we knew we were either very safe or very vulnerable. As we walked to the Duomo (yes, there IS a Duomo in every town) we saw lots of police and police dogs and police cars. Streets were blocked off and police cars kept coming through. It turns out the heads of state of Italy and Germany were meeting at the building across from the Duomo. The odd thing is that I was looking around on the rooftops for police but there did not seem to be any. Anyway, they had their party and around lunch time the motorcade whisked everyone through the narrow streets and life went on. Yesterday's drive through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. I will post photos when we get to a faster, cheaper computer in a cafe that isn't 95°. All these internet places are run by young guys who weigh about 85 lbs. and have never had a hot flash in their lives. Anyway, I digress, we stopped in Greve, a little town in Chianti and they have a wine museum so we spent quite a bit of time there and they also have a debit card system for getting wine tastings. Also, in the town square, there was a book market. Lots of people selling old books AND musical performances throughout the square that day. It was lovely. We got into Siena with no problem and have enjoyed the incredible architecture and the Il Campo, the huge bricked "floored" town square. it slants like an amphitheatre so people just sit around it or lie down and watch the activities. Yesterday there were a bunch of young men waving a huge flag and banners that said "Napoli". They went on with their cheering for hours - which is about the same amount of time that it took to get served a drink at one of the cafes surrounding the square. The town still keeps its medieval traditions and twice a year they have horse races and crowds gathered right in the square. It is a time for the different regions to compete for the Numero Uno bragging rights. Gotta run - Bob and K are probably on their 3rd gelati by now.
Today in Siena we knew we were either very safe or very vulnerable. As we walked to the Duomo (yes, there IS a Duomo in every town) we saw lots of police and police dogs and police cars. Streets were blocked off and police cars kept coming through. It turns out the heads of state of Italy and Germany were meeting at the building across from the Duomo. The odd thing is that I was looking around on the rooftops for police but there did not seem to be any. Anyway, they had their party and around lunch time the motorcade whisked everyone through the narrow streets and life went on. Yesterday's drive through the Tuscan countryside was beautiful. I will post photos when we get to a faster, cheaper computer in a cafe that isn't 95°. All these internet places are run by young guys who weigh about 85 lbs. and have never had a hot flash in their lives. Anyway, I digress, we stopped in Greve, a little town in Chianti and they have a wine museum so we spent quite a bit of time there and they also have a debit card system for getting wine tastings. Also, in the town square, there was a book market. Lots of people selling old books AND musical performances throughout the square that day. It was lovely. We got into Siena with no problem and have enjoyed the incredible architecture and the Il Campo, the huge bricked "floored" town square. it slants like an amphitheatre so people just sit around it or lie down and watch the activities. Yesterday there were a bunch of young men waving a huge flag and banners that said "Napoli". They went on with their cheering for hours - which is about the same amount of time that it took to get served a drink at one of the cafes surrounding the square. The town still keeps its medieval traditions and twice a year they have horse races and crowds gathered right in the square. It is a time for the different regions to compete for the Numero Uno bragging rights. Gotta run - Bob and K are probably on their 3rd gelati by now. 
2 comments:
hola how are you? Is that Bob in the laundry mat? Do you see me in the background--not cause I am in the one in Anandale. Thank you Kelly for Dan's card--it was great--his only international card! Everything comes alive in your blog and the pictures are great! Dan graduates tomorrow. He misses walking club. Look at Kelly feed those birds. Fun.
YAY!!! we loved greve.. it was one of our favorite towns!
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